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Saturday, August 11, 2007

Last Thursday (Aug. 2nd) Kevin, Kaitlyn and I set out for Las Vegas, on our way to Colorado. We'd never done the Vegas thing before. Our oldest three kids stayed with my parents. It was a hard decision to leave them behind, but I knew they'd have more fun with Grandma and Grandpa than with us.

The 6.5 hour drive was pretty uneventful. (The desert is pretty gross--super hot, barren, and as you get into Vegas, lots of trash on the sides of the road.) We got a horribly late start that day so we didn't even arrive in Vegas until 9:30 pm! Good thing that place never shuts down or sleeps!

We stayed at Circus Circus, as we'd found a good deal online. Pretty old, and smelled like cigarrette smoke. But we really only were in our room to sleep, so it worked just fine. (Thankfully there was a fridge in our room for Kaitlyn's medicine, which we'd had on ice the whole drive.)

We missed out on the buffet b/c we got in so late, so we ate at a restaurant in the hotel instead. I got my usual midori sour which ended up being free because they forgot to charge us, and when we told them they said not to worry about it.

After dinner I played a slot machine (I love pulling the lever and can't help hoping that I win a thousand dollars or something!), but didn't win. :) Then we drove around the strip for awhile.

Kaitlyn LOVED the whole experience! She was happy as a clam and just couldn't get enough of the excitement. (Maybe I should be concerned that my 5-month-old loved Las Vegas so much...)

Because we got in so late, we didn't get to bed until about 2 am. We made the decision to sleep in, and arrive in Colorado a bit later than we'd hoped.

So my impressions of Las Vegas were as follows:

--WAY too hot--it was 102 degrees at 8 at night and didn't dip below 90 the entire evening.--Pretty nasty. Lots of "adult entertainment" and icky billboards, etc. (no surprise obviously).--I thought I'd see at least one "lady of the night" but never did. Where are they I wonder?--Some of the other hotels were awesome--neat architecture, lots of lights, fountains, etc.--Total time warp--at 1 am there are tons of people--even families with kids--wandering the strip. You'd never know it was the middle of the night.

Ok, so the first and only time I had ever been to Vegas was to get a ferret (don't ask). Anyway, I HATED it. It was hot, the excess was more than I could bear and I wanted to shake all the old people at the slot machines and yell "that's your grandchildren's inheritance you are doing that with!!!" It amazed me when we went into the "regular" part of Vegas (where people live and there are neighborhoods) to go to Petsmart...and even there there are billboards for nastiness and the free magazines have ads for all kinds of suggestive grossness. I guess I always figured that the STRIP was where the grossness was, but apparently, it is throughout the town at Del Taco too. I can't imagine how you would raise a family there! It was crazy! I don't understand how people like it!

jeannett i know!!!!!!!! i felt the same way! everyone gambling up a storm, eating, smoking and drinking like there was no tomorrow. the street that our hotel backed to had strip club after strip club, several adult bookstores, etc. i'm not sure if you'd get used to it? angela, how is it to live there??? (and the heat was unbearable. i seriously couldn't believe it was well over 90 degrees by 10 am!)

kristen, hehe, kevin made me take a picture of him with his water since he took one of me with my drink. :) midori is a melon liquer and it is quite yummy. we have the fixins, come on over! :)

hahah!! I love pulling the lever on the slot machines too! We went to Tahoe for our honeymoon and went over to nevada one day, just to go to a casino so I could play slots for the first time! it was great! and I lost too... darn!

When we drove through Vegas last June we blogged about the trash on the sides of the road and someone posted from that area, irrate that we said there was trash along the freeway. Sorry, there was.

As far as the gambling thing. Mike and I spent ten dollars on the ships casino on our cruise and we had a lot of fun. It took us an hour to waste it. I actually won ten dollars on my second pull, so we wasted $20 instead. We figured it was like getting two milkshakes and an order of chili cheese fries. I couldn't justify much more than $10 though.

I'm glad that you guys saw it, but you may want to stay in Utah next time :)

lara, kaitlyn's infection is gone as far as i know, i'm just praying she doesn't have anymore--i so hope nothing is wrong with her immune system!!! and i am SO excited to see you guys and for you to meet kaitlyn!!!!!!!

Brianna Heldt

I'm a Catholic mama to eight kids ages 9 and under, and wife to one great guy. I'm a lover of Jesus, great books, ethnic food, and thrifting. I am pro-life and pro-adoption. Loving Denver. Missing California. Most days are a whirlwind of babies and sweeping and joy in the little things. In spite of good intentions, I am rarely anywhere on time. Here you can follow my journey to just show up and be present in each and every crumb-filled moment.